


Care

by Leni



Series: Makes Three [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 06:11:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16969188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin is too late to change Belle's mind.





	Care

**Author's Note:**

> @imgilmoregirl asked Belle + care

Belle’s arms tightened around the sleeping bundle she’d collected from its basket after Rumpelstiltskin had stated his plan for it. “No,” she told him, voice steady if low enough not to wake the babe. “You’re not taking him anywhere.”

Rumpelstiltskin knitted his brow. In his experience, young women burdened with a baby were eager to give it away. His most profitable deals starred the exchange of a squalling infant for a handful of gold. He hadn’t expected to spend even that much for the one Belle had found at his doorstep during his absence, and now he felt out of balance at her resistance. “You… mean to keep him? Here?” The girl must have lost her wits. A simple spell would deposit the baby back into its basket, and the basket could be sent to his vault to await developments, but he felt loathe at the thought of taking the baby away by force when there was no deal binding it into his keeping. He would try reason first. “Girl, I can make that boy a grand heir, maybe a prince. You’ve seen the list of important men who wish for a little boy.”

Belle scoffed. “And not one of them speaks of love, just a role to be filled. No, Rumple. A child should be wanted for more than what they can do for their parents.” Her lips tightened as she said that, and she looked him in the eye, daring him to contradict her. “Those men are welcome to take their pick off the unwanted; this one is mine.”

“You’ve lost your mind,” Rumpelstiltskin muttered. A detail had given him pause, though; the fabric of the baby’s swaddling, a perfect match to one of her few dresses. It would have taken hours of work, and he was well aware that his maid wasn’t fond of sewing. “Belle,” he said, using her name gently as a sign of respect to a woman who was willing to make a sacrifice, even a small one, for a child, “you should give me the child while you care for it. This… attachment… won’t last.”

Her eyes blazed with an anger he’d never have imagined in her, then they widened as she realized he meant it. “You’re a fool, Rumpelstiltskin,” she whispered, taking a step backwards, repulsed by him for the first time in months. “How can you believe that love ever ends?”

 

The End  
16/05/18


End file.
